Extra credit: you can improve up to 5% (500 points) of you final grade with extra credit.

THIS PAGE WILL CHANGE OFTEN!

This is due any time you want before the last week of the semester.

→GO to an ICaP mini conference (Thursdays at 3:30) to learn more about yourself, relationships, stress, drinking, and many more. Go to this page to see all the details: http://www.purdue.edu/CAPS/330thursdays.html and earn 10 pts per hour. Ask for a "certificate" that you will give me as a proof of attendance.

 

→HELP train international TAs. Give one hour (or more) of your time to observe international TAs while they teach and give them a quick evaluation (on special forms that will be given to you, nothing big). No report to your teacher required for this one, but you will receive a proof of attendance that you need to give me if you want 10 pts per hour. Go to this page to sign up for a day and time.

 

→READ one or more of the following texts (in English! and that you have NOT read before!) and type a one page critical and thoughtful report (per book) about what you've learned, liked, and disliked, where I can see that you have REALLY read that book (remember, 100 pts = 1% of your total grade!). (If you know about a good link to these books and authors, please send me the information, thank you.) I reserve the right to ask you questions about the books you said you read if I am not convinced that you did read it:

  • Gandhi, an Autobiography (150 pts)
  • The Bean Trees and Pigs in Heaven (two books) -- Barbara Kingsolver (130 pts)
  • Jihad vs. McWorld -- Benjamin Barber (130 pts)
  • A People's History of the United States -- Howard Zinn (120 pts)
  • One Hundred Years of Solitude -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez (120 pts)
  • Woman of Egypt -- Jehan Sadat (120 pts)
  • The Heart That Bleeds--Latin America Now -- Alma Guillermoprieto (110 pts)
  • The Best Democracy Money Can Buy -- Greg Palast (100 pts)
  • To Destroy You Is No Loss -- JoAn Dewey Criddle (90 pts)
  • What Should I Do With My Life? -- Po Bronson (80 pts)
  • The Things They Carried -- Tim O'Brien (80 pts)
  • The Poisonwood Bible -- Barbara Kingsolver (80 pts)
  • The Scarlet Letter -- Nathaniel Hawthorn (80 pts)
  • Mean Spirit -- Linda Hogan (80 pts)
  • A Passage to India -- E. M. Forster (80 pts)
  • Fast Food Nation -- Eric Schlosser (80 pts)
  • Death in the Andes -- Mario Vargas Llosa (80 pts)
  • House of the Spirits -- Isabel Allende (80 pts)
  • Where I'm Calling From -- Raymond Carver (80 pts)
  • Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee -- Dee Brown (80 pts)
  • Alive -- Piers Paul Read (70 pts)
  • The Beloved Country -- Alan Paton (70 pts)
  • Blow-up and Other Stories -- Julio Cortazar (70 pts)
  • 1984 -- George Orwell (70 pts)
  • For Those I Loved -- Martin Gray (70 pts)
  • A Farewell to Arms -- Ernest Hemingway (70 pts)
  • Siddhartha -- Hermann Hesse (70 pts)
  • The Chosen -- Chaim Potok (70 pts)
  • The Picture of Dorian Gray -- Oscar Wilde (60 pts)
  • The Hiding Place -- Corrie Ten Boom (60 pts)
  • Blood Brothers -- Elias Chacour (60 pts)
  • To Kill a Mockingbird -- Harper Lee (60 pts)
  • My Name is Asher Lev -- Chaim Potok (60 pts)
  • Things Fall Apart -- Chinua Achebe (60 pts)
  • The Diary of a Young Girl -- Anne Frank (50 pts)
  • The Stranger -- Albert Camus (50 pts)
  • The Story of My Life -- Helen Keller (50 pts)
  • Hiroshima -- John Hersey (50 pts)
  • The Joy Luck Club -- Amy Tan (50 pts)
  • My Left Foot -- Shane Connaughton (50 pts)
  • The Awakening -- Kate Chopin (50 pts)
  • I Heard the Owl Call My Name -- Margaret Craven (50 pts)
  • Animal Farm -- George Orwell (40 pts)
  • The Giver -- Lois Lowry -- (40 pts)
  • Foreigner -- Nahid Rachlin (40 pts)
  • Other books that interest you, if you bring them and let me read them first.
→LISTEN for an hour to one of the following NPR shows (online or on the radio) and type a reflective and critical report about what you've learned and what you think about it (10 pts. first page, 5 pts per extra page):
  • NPR allows you to listen to the news and find other sources of interesting information. GREAT radio station!
  • Marketplace.org is a place which explores the news, the world, education, the economy, the military, health, the arts, technology, etc.
  • World Radio Network from NPR offers the best English language reports. Listen to English-speaking radio stations (and other languages!) from across the globe.
  • Living On Earth explores our environment, what we're doing to it, and what it's doing to us and examines how the environment affects medicine, politics, technology, economics, transportation, agriculture, and more.
  • Justice Talking is an in-depth look at the cases that come before the US's courts and challenge our conscience.

 

→TALK for one hour with someone from another country about current political events and write a one page summary of what you've learned, what your opinion is/was, and what the other person said that was new to you, showing reflection and understanding of new concepts. (10 pts first page, 5 pts per extra page)

 

→WATCH carefully:

  • The news (in English or with captions) on international television (from internet or cable) for an hour, and type a one page report of what you've learned, understood, not understood, what is different from what you thought you knew, etc.(10 pts first page, 5 pts extra pages).
  • Movies from the World Cinema, saturday evening at 7:00 PM in Stanley Coulter room 239. It is free! Type a thoughtful and critical report about what you've learned, what you liked, how you feel about this movie, etc. (10 pts first page, 5 pts extra pages) .
  • The following movies (that you have NOT seen already!), and type a thoughtful and critical report about what you've learned, what you liked, how you feel about this movie, etc. (10 pts first page, 5 pts extra pages) (* = MUST see):
    1. Gandhi (true story, about Gandhi's fight in India--very violent, long, beautiful, very well done, incredible! *)
    2. The Thirteenth Floor (about "different" worlds, a little like Matrix--thought-provoking, very well done, not violent)
    3. Wings of Desire (German movie about Berlin--thought-provoking, long, very artistic, beautiful)
    4. Far Away So Close (German movie about Berlin--thought-provoking, long, very artistic, beautiful)
    5. Bowling for Colombine (documentary about violence in the US--incredible, unbelievable, interesting, funny, scary, amazing, very well done *)
    6. Rabbit-proof Fence (true story, Australian movie--beautiful, unbelievable, sad, incredible! *)
    7. With Honors (movie about life, death, Harvard, stress, and friendship--strong, emotional, beautiful)
    8. Pay It Forward (about the power to change things--sad, happy, thought-provoking, full of hope *)
    9. Pie (independent movie, about the brain and mathematics--incredible, strange, very weird, a little disturbing, scary)
    10. Dangerous Beauty (true story, about Italy and "courtesans"--beautiful, sad, amazing, thought-provoking, a bit racy)
    11. Eat Drink Man Woman (Chinese movie about family and food--very funny, sad, makes you hungry! *)
    12. The Last Emperor (true story, about the life of China's last emperor--long, very well done, incredible *)
    13. 13 Conversations About One Thing (about fate and money--thought-provoking, strange, well done, very interesting)
    14. Bagdad Cafe (about friendship, life in the desert, and Las Vegas--very funny, full of good feelings)
    15. Seven (about the seven sins--very violent, very disturbing, thought-provoking)
    16. Evelyn (true story, about Ireland and family--interesting, well done, full of good feelings)
    17. Gattaca (about genetically "enhanced" children--thought-provoking, not violent, amazing, raises very important issues *)
    18. SLC Punk (about drugs, friendship, and fate--sad, weird, a little disturbing, very interesting)
    19. Life is beautiful (about Italy, WWII, and the power of the family--amazing, beautiful, incredible, funny, sad, ...incredible! *)
    20. Shine (true story, about music and madness--strange, sad, beautiful)
    21. Traffic (about Mexico, the US, and drugs--very well done, quite violent, strong, amazing *)
    22. Schindler's List (true story, about WWII and the Jews in Poland--very sad, long, violent, disturbing, amazing, strong, beautiful! *)
    23. 12 Angry Men (about the power of convictions and the truth--very well done, impressive, thought-provoking, a classic! *)
    24. All About My Mother (Spanish movie, about life's choices--quite disturbing, strange, happy, sad)
    25. Talk to Her (Spanish movie, about love and madness--very disturbing, strange, sad)
    26. Fried Green Tomatoes (about friendship and segregation in the South--funny, happy, full of good feelings)
    27. American History X (about racism and neo-nazis--very violent, very disturbing, amazing, incredible, very interesting, beautiful! *)
    28. Run, Lola Run (about fate and time--weird, fast, cool!)
    29. Himalaya (true story, about Tibet--beautiful, long, very artistic)
    30. Three Colors: Blue, White, Red (3 French movies to watch in this order, about fate, death, music, Poland, prison, betrayal--beautiful, strange)